The present invention relates to a hand-operated binding device which may be used to bind various kinds of objects with a binding band, for example, to bind a bundle of electric wires with a binding band, or to tie a young plant to a support piece of wood.
To effect wiring in an electric installation work, for example, a bundle of electric wires is bound with a binding band. Such a binding work has heretofore been effected by use of an automatic binding device such as that disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,769. The conventional automatic binding device will be briefly explained below.
A binding band is discharged from a cartridge and fed to a tool through a chute. At the tool, the band portion of the binding band fed thereto is bent in the form of a loop around a bundle of of electric wires by the cooperation of a pair of first and second guide members, and the head portion of the binding band is stopped and retained in position with a stopper. In this state, the first guide member is driven by a driving means to reduce the space that is defined by the first and second guide members for accommodating objects to be bound, thereby reducing the loop of the binding band so that the distal end portion of the band portion is inserted and passed through a hole in the head portion by utilization of the elastic deformation of a locking member provided on the head portion. The end portion of the band portion that projects from the head portion is pulled by a stretching means, so that the following band portion is passed through the hole in the head portion by utilization of the elastic deformation of the locking member, thereby reducing the loop to fasten the bundle of electric wires tight. Thereafter, the end portion of the band portion that projects from the head portion is cut off by a cutting means, and the cut piece of the band portion is discharged to the outside by the action of the stretching means. Then, the first guide member is returned to the original position by the driving means.
However, the above-described conventional automatic binding device employs compressed air to feed a binding band from the cartridge to the tool by use of the chute and also employs an air cylinder device and a motor as drive sources for the driving means, the stretching means, the cutting means, etc. For this reason, the prior art needs attached equipment such as a compressed air supply source, a power source, etc., so that the place where the binding device is usable is limited. Thus, the prior art is inferior in general-purpose properties.